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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Obama coming to Madison to speak next week By Hannah Furfaro The Daily Cardinal
President Barack Obama will visit Madison Nov. 4, according to a statement released by the White House Tuesday. Obama plans to speak about education, although the specific content of his speech has not yet been disclosed. Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor, said he expects Obama to address issues facing K-12 education. Franklin said poor results of the latest evaluation of the gap in scores between blacks and whites make Wisconsin a “reasonably good state” to talk about education issues. “We provide a platform that he can address all of these kinds of concerns,” Franklin said. “Excellence in education, ... racial disparities, ... and education reform in the broadest sense.” He said the reason for Obama’s visit might include political motivations. “Obama won the state big but needs to hang on to it, and then just possibly he might have a con-
versation with Mayor Barrett about running for governor,” he said. Franklin said he would be surprised if a conversation with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett did not come up during Obama’s visit, although he speculated that any discussion would be a private one. “Barrett is now the only Democrat left standing of the original top-tier candidates, so it’s certainly to the Democratic Party’s interest to have the strongest candidate they can get in the race.” Molly Rivera, chair of the UW-Madison College Democrats, said the College Democrats are “really excited” for Obama’s visit. She said depending on where the event is held, the organization will work on rallying students to attend the event. “If it ends up being open to the public, then we will have lots of opportunities to let students know about the event and tell them where they can go and things like that.” Details on the location of the event have not yet been released.
isabel Álvarez/cardinal file photo
President Barack Obama will discuss education in Madison Nov. 4.
40 computers in Chemistry Department hacked, possibly exposing private info Forty computers in UW-Madison’s Chemistry Department were hacked and 2,920 names and Social Security numbers were potentially exposed, mostly during the past 18 months, according to an e-mail from UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas. UW-Madison discovered the security breach Aug. 31 “through the use of new monitoring hardware,” but the identity of the hacker or hackers remains unknown. Lucas said there is no evidence the infiltrations were
done locally or by a member of the UW-Madison community. “We do know the machines were used as part of an underground distribution network of music, movies, television shows and commercial software,” he said. Lucas said there is no evidence that documents containing the Social Security numbers—such as class rosters and grading documents—were accessed, though UW-Madison still hacking page 3
danny marchewka/the daily cardinal
ASM Legislative Affairs Committee member Josh Molter expresses his opinion on the possible redevelopment of the Mifflin Street area. The committee discussed the downtown development plan Tuesday.
ASM committee discusses ALRC student member, Downtown Plan By Grace Urban The Daily Cardinal
Members of ASM’s Legislative Affairs Committee met Tuesday night to discuss plans for Madison’s downtown area and the recent debate over whether the Alcohol License Review Committee should have a student voting member. Adam Johnson, the committee chair, said the Student Council will vote on a resolution tomorrow night to determine whether they will publicly support a proposal by Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8. Eagon’s proposal would require one of two new voting members on the ALRC to be a student. “I think [the resolution] will pass pretty easily,” he said. Johnson also told committee members that Eagon is attempting to organize students to attend the Common Council meeting Nov. 3 to demonstrate student support for his proposal. “Critics say that students don’t
care,” Johnson said. “If many students show up, they’ll take notice.” Johnson also updated committee members on plans for the downtown Madison area that he discussed with Bill Fruhling, Madison’s primary planner. “The entire downtown area is a student area,” Johnson said. “[These proposals] aim to make downtown more accessible to more people.” Although the plan is still in draft form, possible items include a lakeshore path that would connect Memorial Union to James Madison Park, as well as a boardwalk. Committee members also discussed a possible expansion of East Campus Mall from Library Mall to Lake Monona and the possibility of a light-rail transit point being built behind the Kohl Center. The light rail would theoretically run from east to west and connect to the new Amtrak station with very limited stops. Plan proposals for redevelop-
ment of the Mifflin Street area sparked significant discussion among committee members. “We should have a position of conservation and preservation,” committee member Josh Molter said. Johnson said the committee needs to advocate for students, even if that means potentially opposing construction. “We’re not interested in the well-being of the city, we’re interested in the well-being of the students,” he said. Although Johnson said Fruhling does want to develop the area to combat its perceived drinking culture, he is looking for input. The construction of a large apartment building is being considered. However, Johnson said both he and Fruhling agreed “the neighborhood has character, that character has value in and of itself and that shouldn’t be pushed out of the way just because we want new buildings.”
State Street businesses get boost from Freakfest By Caitlin Gath The Daily Cardinal
With Halloween and the annual Freakfest celebration quickly approaching, businesses along State Street have been anticipating the rush of excess customers, as well as the potential for disorderly conduct. “It’s definitely always better sale-wise,” Alex Felland, a bartender at State Street Brats, said. “It’s one of our busier weekends of the year, but there’s also some drawbacks with more underage drinkers and overly intoxicated patrons.” The bar plans to have more staff
on hand for the event, Felland said. “For late-night bouncers we’ll have a meeting with how to deal with an excessive crowd and people in costumes,” he added. Felland also said the bar will not admit patrons whose costumes prevent the bouncer from matching their faces to their ID. “I’ve seen in previous years underage patrons trying to get by when their ID might not look like them,” he said. Because of Daylight Savings Time ending early Sunday morning, bars are legally able to stay
open an extra hour after clocks are turned back at 2 a.m. “[The extra hour] has not caused any problems in the past,” Cpt. Mary Schauf of the Madison Police Department said. “It seems like most years we run into this issue with Daylight Savings Time, so it’s something we’ve dealt with in the past.” Felland said Brats will likely stay open the extra hour. Frida Mexican Grill, further down State Street, will also stay open the extra hour early on Sunday. freakfest page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”